Toronto real estate soars to new heights

TORONTO – The Toronto area’s real estate market set a record last month, with nearly 13,000 homes sold, despite sky-high prices and new federal mortgage rules targeted at Canada’s most expensive housing markets.

The Toronto Real Estate Board said Friday the number of sales last month was up 10.6 per cent from May 2015 and prices were up about 15 per cent. That came one day after its counterpart in Vancouver also reported record-breaking sales for the month.

Ottawa has increasingly come under pressure recently from various quarters, including bankers and the OECD, to do more to cool down the soaring housing markets of Toronto and Vancouver. The federal government has said it is monitoring the situation and may respond with further action, if needed.

On Thursday, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that it its benchmark price for detached properties rose above $1.5 million — up nearly 37 per cent from May 2015.

The Canadian Real Estate Association’s national monthly report will be released on June 15, and will likely show big discrepancies between Toronto and Vancouver on one hand and other cities in the country on the other.

CREA previously reported that sales volumes in Vancouver and Toronto were stable in the first two full months since the new federal mortgage rules went into effect in mid-February. But prices continued to climb month-over-month in March and April.